Was there a knockout punch in the first governor’s debate?

CHARLIE-AND-RICKWas there a knockout punch in the first governor’s debate?

Scott and Crist

By Roger Caldwell

     The first Florida governor’s debate is in the record books and it was a draw. Both Scott and Crist stayed on message, and both candidates stayed cool as a cucumber. Governor Scott has mastered the ability to not answer questions, and stretch the truth.

Both candidates have skeletons in the closet, and Crist must admit or is being forced by Scott to acknowledge that he is a flip flapper, and his positions have drastically changed. Scott is claiming that Crist changed as a result of political expediency, and he needs a job.

At the debate, Scott drove this point home, and also charged Crist with losing 832,000 Florida jobs, and he is all talk and no action.

“Here’s the big difference between Charlie and me. I’ll take responsibility and Charlie never will. I will take responsibility for the actions while I was CEO. In contrast, Charlie has never taken responsibility for anything,” says Scott.

Again the truth meter is saying that Scott is stretching the truth, because he has forgotten that he invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times, and it appears that he is not taking responsibility for the actions of Columbia/HCA. Crist made an excellent point, when he asked could Floridians believe and trust Scott, after his company paid $1.7 billion in fines.

In the last four years, Crist has learned to talk and walk the line of a good Democrat. When Crist says he wants to increase the minimum wage to $10.10, and increase the funding of public education, he is on point with the Democratic Party. When he says he wants to expand Medicaid and allow the state to receive $51 billion, it is the right thing to do for the state. When truth is on your side, it is easier to answer questions, but still some of Crist’s Republican friends are now in jail.

As the general election gets closer, there are two more Flori-da gubernatorial debates. Scott is adamant that the state is moving in the right direction and he is spending and funding education at historical levels. Crist must be able to refute Scott’s stories and show that funding for education is only at 2008 levels. The ex-governor must also prove that Scott is a terrible administrator and give facts of the corruption that is prevalent in the present administration.

If Crist plans to win back his job, he must win the next two debates with definitive knock-out punches. This is a mid-term election and youth and the minorities traditionally do not vote. Crist can only win with the minority and youth vote, and he must convince this segment of Floridians that he is believable, and he is telling the truth.

At this point in the campaign there is an abundance of apathy in the state, and many people don’t care who wins.

If Crist is the “People’s Choice or Ticket,” he must prove this in the debates, and inspire and motivate Floridians to vote for him.

 

About Carma Henry 24363 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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